My daughter, who is 11 years old and a student at Lakeview has always shown an interest in politics, and in particular, our past presidents. Some of the questions she was asking my wife and I about the White House we could not answer, so we suggested she write a letter to President, George W. Bush and state the same questions to him. Suprisingly, she received an official envelope from the White House and inside was a response to all of her questions, addressed directly to her by name, and even a suggestion to a particular web site to get additional information. With this came a photograph of himself and the First Lady, Laura Bush. This gesture by our President, and/or his staff, reinforced with my daughter the importance of government and that "even the President will listen to an 11 year old".
This should be proof enough to everybody that a small voice does play an important role with your government and everyone should ask questions or voice their concerns with their elected officials. Who knows, you may be pleasantly suprised with who is listening!